(RightWing.org) – Controversy continues to rage surrounding President Joe Biden’s lax border security measures. As a result, law-abiding citizens are finding themselves overwhelmed by the flood of illicit drugs into the United States. The powerful and all too frequently deadly synthetic opioid drug fentanyl is among the substances being trafficked across the border. Unfortunately, this uptake in the drug has recently led health experts to issue a warning about a new deadly mix of fentanyl with a veterinary medication.
On December 10, NBC News published a report delving into a new drug cocktail that is wreaking havoc across the US. The street drug combines illicitly gained fentanyl with a livestock tranquilizer called xylazine.
The potentially deadly combination is known on the street as “tranq dope” and is living up to its reputation among health experts. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recently issued a report revealing that the number of fatal overdoses involving opioids and xylazine rose by roughly 276% during the last few years.
Similarly, the DOJ released the results of a joint study conducted with the DEA detailing the rising threat of deadly overdoses attributed to xylazine combined with opioids like fentanyl. Researchers found that deaths from those illegal cocktails increased from 2020 to 2021 by 516% in the Midwest, 750% in the West, and 1,127% in the South.
NBC News reported that drug users in West Virginia have been experiencing a “disproportionate hit from xylazine” mixed with opioids. Recent data from researchers at West Virginia University warned that the veterinary tranquilizer is found in as much as 20% of the needles used by addicts statewide. Alarmingly, at least 50% of the needles found in the City of Wheeling contain the potentially lethal substance.
Sadly, those who don’t perish by the needle can experience catastrophic and life-changing injuries as a result of their use of xylazine combined with fentanyl and other opioids. The tranquilizer has a well-documented history of causing deep wounds that stem from skin ulcers appearing at injection sites and elsewhere on the body.
Those wounds can lead to amputations in some instances. Laura Weigel, the head of a drug treatment center at a West Virginia YMCA, recounted having a patient who recently had part of her shoulder and one full breast removed due to xylazine.
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